Dixie Chicks

Top of the World Tour: Dixie Chicks Live (Sony) Clear Channel’s public enemies No. 1, 2, and 3 take their cause to the people. From tantalizing two-stepper “Hello Mr. Heartache” to mall-country tour de force “There’s Your Trouble” and Home chestnuts “Travelin’ Soldier” and “Truth No. 2,” the Chicks have never sounded better, mixing their formidable bluegrass-schooled chops with contemporary pop smarts. The editing-room joyride sometimes makes for several different costume changes on the same fiddle solo, but oddly enough, Natalie Maines’ much-discussed “F.U.T.K.” T-shirt is nowhere to be found. — Christopher Gray

This article appears in December 12 • 2003.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.

Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.